What Is It?

[TVV]

Ended yesterday on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=220375220479

The blade seems to be European, possibly French. The hilt with those brass tacks has an African feel to me. But what is it really?

[broadaxe]

I think it is an altered sword-cane. Well, just the sword minus the cane. In my part of the world (the Middle East) it was quite popular to make sword-canes out of surplus French Epees, after WWI to WWII.